OCT 1: ACF insists on quit notice to Igbos, as another group plans one-million-man match

Speculations that the Arewa Youths Consultative Forum (ACF) was set to rescind its vacation order to Igbos in the north following series of consultations with northern and southern leaders, have been proven untrue, as the group announced on Thursday in Kano that its position remained.

This reaffirmation is coming as another pan-Arewa group, Arewa Summit Development Initiative, also in Kano on Thursday, announced its plan to stage a one-million-man march in Kano by October 1st to draw awareness to the multifaceted problems facing the region.

The ACF, while reconfirming its stance on the highly divisive quit notice, also revealed that it had sent a petition to the United Nations detailing what it termed the atrocities of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

Yerima Shettima, who is national president of ACF, said, contrary to what some people think of their position as being divisive, the group’s real mission was, “for peace”, maintaining that “the unity of Nigeria is being threatened by the current agitation from the Igbos and we want to make sure that those who are interested in Nigeria stay but those who are not interested should go”.

Yerima continued, “The purpose of town hall meeting in Kano is to review the early stand took and we are collecting views of people here from the north-west. We will also move to north-central and north-east on whether to maintain our position or reconsider it. He also said that they have written to UN about Kanu’s atrocities.

“That is why we told you that our quit notice still stands and our resolve that anybody who doesn’t want to stay in Nigeria should vacate our region still stands but we are not going to use force to actualize that. We will do it through peaceful means, this is because of the fact that one cannot be living with us and talking Biafra.

“We don’t have the right to force the people to go. So, we are using peaceful means because we don’t have police and army.”

Read also: BIAFRA: Those drumming the beats of war too young to appreciate our bitter history – Osinbajo

Meanwhile, Professor Aliyu Jibia, who is the national coordinator of the pan-Arewa group, ASDI, said at the group’s town hall, that their mission was to promote greater collaboration between the 19 northern states so as to achieve inclusive development.

The group lamented the failure of successive northern leaders to make meaningful contribution to the economic development of the region, despite an abundance of opportunities.

“several years of comatose and inactions was responsible for the stunted economic growth”, he said.

Jibia said the group will embark on a one-million-man on October 1st to make its case. He specifically highlighted the crisis of the almajiri practice in the north and stated that the group hoped to engage the services of 10 million ad-hoc staff for the empowerment of these youths.

“The first steps towards economic and self-discovery is to show love to the vulnerable members of the group and strategize plan to harness their potentials”, he said.

Close watchers of developments around Arewa groups will be looking to see what the reactions to the ACF’s reaffirmed provocative position will be, and whether or not any connection can be established between the October 1 quit notice, and the planned march on same date.

 

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